11th November 2023, Saturday
Today we planned to visit Bruges which was like about 1 hr away from Brussels by train. My friend found that there was a weekend ticket which we could buy at 50% off while traveling within Belgium. However, we had some doubt on this ticket as we were planning to go Ghent the next day. So we decided to go to the railway station and buy from the counter instead. We got ready and left the hotel without any breakfast. When we reached the train station, we went and checked with the train staff how the weekend tickets work. Apparently, we could buy a weekend ticket to go Bruges today and stay over night there and return with the same ticket tomorrow. But we can't go with this. The other way is we could buy the same weekend ticket for a day and drop off at Bruges first and next to Ghent in a day. The train staff helped us to key in the options from the ticket machine and he had set it across 2 days. Anyway the price was still the same for 1 day or 2 days, so we paid for it. We left to the platform after we confirmed with the train staff on which platform we should go for the train. We were lucky to catch the 8:17 train.
 |
| Heading to Bruges |
We got onto a double-decker train and managed to get a 4 seaters. It was also raining while we were on the train. Managed to see a double rainbow when we were about to reach Bruges station. When we reached the station, the rain had stopped. While we were figuring our direction, the rain started again but this time, it was raining hail stones instead, So we waited till it stopped before we started out on our journey. It was about 15-20 mins to the old town and it kept raining (the clouds very dark and big). We first arrived at St. Salvator's Cathedral as this was the first building we saw. So we went inside to have a peek, the stained coloured windows were decorated with different designs relating to Christianity. There were a lot of people visiting Bruges too and with different walking tours. We spent some time in the cathedral before we left to our next destination. We passed the Belfort of Bruges and it was ringing at that time. But we continued walking to find our breakfast place which was named House of Waffles. When we reached there, there was some people buying their waffles outside the shop. So we headed in for a seat so that we can rest and enjoy the food (most importantly, we could use their toilet for free...😀). The place was almost full and we were lucky to get a table. Cos as the time nearing noon, there was a waiting queue for dine-in.
 |
| Rainbow |
 |
| St. Salvator's Cathedral |
 |
| House of Waffles |
We ordered a hot chocolate drink, a club BLT waffles and a belgium-style waffles with bananas and cream. Interestingly, the hot chocolate drink came in hot foam milk and a block of chocolate. So i mixed the chocolate block into the milk and let it melt inside. It was quite nice and not too sweet. The waffles were nice too, though the bacon in the club BLT waffles was salty. Overall, i still think it was yummy. After that, we continued to explore the town and stumbled onto the famous beer wall at 2be bar where different beer bottles were displayed onto a very wide wall. They even had a 3-storey high shop where they were selling a lot of Tintin and Smurfs collectibles. After that, we continued to walk out and the rain had become lighter. And the sun was finally out. Some people were taking the cruise tour and some are walking along the streets. We walked till we reached another cathedral - Church of Our Lady. It was also quite grand outside and inside of the cathedral. We just spent some time exploring inside.
 |
| BLT waffles |
 |
| Belgium-style waffles |
 |
| Chocolate block with milk |
After that, we kept walking further into the town and going back to see the Belford tower and the city hall. We walked till almost 3 before we ned up in a restaurant named L'Estaminet. It was quite empty when we reached there. So we took a table with view outside and started ordering a fish soup and a non-alcoholic beer (Sportzot) and a pasta with a look of cheese melted on top. And the sun started to shine on us after the clouds were cleared. The food took a while to arrive and we were glad to have some hot food on the table. The fish soup was quite delicious and there was plenty of fish meat inside. The pasta with the melted cheese was also quite nice. It was sooo filling after we finished everything. After that we paid for our meal and continued walking. We walked to the main square where we saw the city hall and Basilica of the Holy Blood - which i had listed to visit but ended up visited other churches around the town...😂
 |
| The Beerwall |
We walked up to the basilica to take a look inside and there were a lot of visitors inside the church. We walked around and saw a sign indicating the "relic of the Holy Blood" placed behind a tabernacle. So we only saw the tabernacle and not the real relic itself. After seeing that, we left the place and made our way back to Brussels. The streets were already filled with a lot of visitors and getting crowded. We saw a Gong Cha branch and decided to buy a drink to share on the train. We got a large winter melon drink with milk foam and lychee popping. Later, we went and took the train back to the hotel...So tiring...
 |
| Entrance to see relic of the Holy Blood |
 |
| Tabernacle |
 |
| Only Gong Cha of whole trip |
Hotel stayed: Bedford Hotel & Congress Centre
